Chick-fil-A’s Second Leesburg Location a Go

Loudoun County cows rejoice—soon those local to Leesburg will have another reason to eat more chicken.

Tuesday night, the Leesburg Town Council unanimously passed the concept plan, proffer amendment and special exception applications that pave the way for the town’s second Chick-fil-A drive-through restaurant.

The newest Chick-fil-A will be located off the intersection of Miller Drive and Battlefield Parkway, near the EIT headquarters, in the Oaklawn community. Tuesday night’s approvals also laid the ground work for a second 5,000-square-foot building, also with a drive-through, on that same site. The tenants of that building are unknown at this time and Christine Gleckner of Walsh Colucci, the land use planner representing the applicant, noted that building could hold from one to three tenants.

Several council members voiced their concerns over the proposed hours of operation for the drive-through establishments on the site. Although Chick-fil-A’s hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and closed Sundays, the applicant, Oaklawn Development Partners, had requested that the operating hours of the second drive-through establishment be from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.

Allowing that large window of operations would make the property more marketable, said Andy Shuckra, of Oaklawn Development Partners, said.

A distinction was made between last summer’s Meadowbrook commercial development application, which, among other amenities, featured three drive-through establishments off Rt. 15 adjacent to the Meadowbrook community. The proposed three drive-throughs specifically drew the ire of many nearby residents, as well as council members.

This week’s application, Councilman Tom Dunn noted, instead was on a site with commercial uses and large-scale employers already nearby. No one from the public spoke at Tuesday’s public hearing, and Gleckner reported that feedback from nearby residents in an HOA meeting regarding the application was overwhelmingly positive.

Although Vice Mayor Marty Martinez initially suggested capping the hours of operation at 10 p.m., the council compromised on a closing time of midnight.